Jealousy
by T1gerCat
Summary: Drunken plans never work. Or do they?
1. Part 1

**Jealousy**

**Part 1**

Damon Salvatore was at Mystic Grill, drowning his sorrows in numerous bottles of top shelf scotch muttering to himself how once again he had been fooled by one certain Elena Gilbert once again. He and his brother Stefan had decided to push her to pick between one of them.

She picked Stefan obviously.

On the stool next to him sat a blond woman. She was in her mid-twenties, with big baby blue eyes and could probably rival him in the number of empty bottles of tequila and gin. She had decided to grab the bull by the horns and told her best friend since childhood how she felt for him.

He turned her down. Hard.

Elena's words "It's always going to be Stefan" rang through Damon's head as he drank.

Jason's words "You're a great friend Nikki, but just a friend" rang through Nicholette's head as she drank.

The bartender saw them and shook his head. Quietly he brought them another round and asked them for their car keys with the next round. Nikki handed over the Smurfette key chain wordlessly while Damon rolled his almost identical blue eyes and ignored the bartender. The bartender sighed.

Damon downed his drink with one gulp. Nikki did the same with her martini. Suddenly she felt the need to speak. She turned to the raven haired man and said

"Friends should be put in the guillotine"

Damon chuckled for the first time that day

"Same goes for girls that choose your brother over you"

Nikki's perfectly plucked left dirty blond eyebrow was raised.

"Bitch"

She said. Damon didn't disagree and signaled the bartender for a series of shots as well as another round.

"Damon"

he said

"Nikki"

she replied and thanked him with a nod of her head. she raised one of the shot glasses

"to assholish friends"

Damon beat her to it, Nikki smiled and continued

"And bitches who pick your brother over you"

They downed their shots together. For once Damon felt no need, nor want, to suck the living force out of Nikki. Instead he spilled his guts to her and even cared enough to drive her home after she fell asleep thanks to thirty five Martinis and twenty two tequila shots.

"Please tell me we didn't..."

Nikki held her pounding head with one hand and clutched tightly the sheet on her chest with the other hand, the next morning. Damon smirked at her bewildered expression.

"Nah.. You passed out early. I had another bottle afterwards"

Nikki's stomach growled in protest and she took off running in direction of the bathroom. Damon laughed loudly and after pointing her to the bathroom he guided her tot he kitchen for a full pot of coffee.

"thanks Damon"

Nikki muttered and took a long sip of the coffee. she was still in her clothes from the day before and had only pulled her bed hair in a messy bun and Damon thought he had never seen a person looking so normal after a night of drinking like that.

"How can you be so chipper?"

"Because I've been drank for the past 170 years!"

Damon said simply and Nikki raised an eyebrow before deciding he's joking and finished her coffee quickly.

"I need to get to work"

"I'll drive you"

He offered before his brain ordered him not to. As soon as he opened the door for them to leave though they found themselves face to face with Elena. Her eyes were perfectly open and the expression in them was perfectly hurt.

"Damon"

She said as coldly as she could.

"Elena"

he said trying to look heartless. And failing.

"Nicolette"

Nikki said breaking their heated stare-a-thon making the teenage girl glare at her so harshly that if she wasn't to similar glares at the Olympics she'd be dust by now and Damon smirk at Elena's reaction.

"Stefan is in his room"

Damon tossed to Elena over his shoulder and guided Nikki to his car.

"Nicolette?"

he asked as they cruised through the strangely busy Mystic Falls

"My full name. I prefer Nikki though. You ok?"

She asked biting her lip feeling suddenly nervous. Damon chuckled darkly

"That was Elena. The one who chose my brother"

"Ouch"

Was all Nikki said realizing it was better to shut up. With a soft 'thanks' to Damon he ran inside the school hoping to change into her gym clothes before first period began.

She didn't even see Jason's harsh glare to her exiting Damon's convertible from his spot on his bike.


	2. Part 2

**Part 2**

Nikki felt perfectly at peace as she went through a routine on a balance beam in the middle of the school's indoor gym. All traces of hangover were long gone thanks to limitless amount of coffee and if she was honest with herself the pure jealousy she had seen in Jason's eyes had made her feel better.

"I should know better than that"

she muttered to herself going blindly through a series of back flips, front flips and various other positions that would impress the most serious judges.

"I'm a 23 year old woman that has a wall full of awards and medals from various gymnast meets and Games and yet I'm putty for those eyes."

She said referring to her best friend and could/would be boyfriend Jason Taylor. Yes, that was his real name. The two had been best friends ever since she made him eat a bug when they were 7 years old and had been through a lot together. Boyfriends, girlfriends, braces, broken legs, her first blue ribbon, his first prize at karate. She had even agreed to follow him to this small town to be gym teachers together while he'd fulfill his childhood dream. To open a karate center where she would teach young aspiring gymnasts as well.

And everything changed in one night. The night she gathered enough courage to tell him she was in love with him. The night he turned her down flat. Last night.

She was exiting the school along with the rest of the students and the teachers when she saw the same black convertible with a smirking Damon behind the wheel. She raised an eyebrow. He motioned closer with a crooked finger.

She missed Elena's angry scowl as she entered the vehicle and Damon sped away nearly knocking Jason down from his motorcycle.

"What are you doing here Damon?"

"You still don't have your keys and I decided something. But first of all I'm starving. Can you cook?"

he said with one breath. Actually he had just eaten a delicious bartender at the Grill but he had no intentions of revealing his less than human side to Nikki and he needed her help.

"I make a mean putanesca"

Nikki said feebly and Damon bit the inside of his lip. Should he tell her that 'putanesca' meant 'prostitute'? Judging from her small, skintight bright leopard leotard, he decided not. He did want to eat and he couldn't cook to save his life.

Nikki unlocked the door of her not-too-small one bedroom apartment and headed straight to the kitchen. Damon grabbed a beer of her fridge began drinking without invitation.

The two struck a conversation about nothing in particular and it wasn't until the first bite that Damon blurted out

"I want you to be my pretend girlfriend"

Nikki spit out her pasta and looked at him as if he had just announced to her he was a vampire.

"What?"

she squeaked after she cleaned herself with a napkin. Damon thought about compelling her but decided against it. Compelling Andi to a relationship had led to her death and compelling Caroline bit him in the ass after she became a vampire and remembered it.

"Elena looked pissed this morning and your 'friend' looked angry enough to punch a hole through a wall when I picked you up"

he made connotations on the word 'friend'.

"How do you know who Jason is?"

Nikki asked taking a sip of water. Damon threw her a side glance asking her 'seriously?' and she shook her head

"Scratch that. Why me and how would we even do it are better questions"

Damon smiled internally at her unspoken 'yes'

"Jason owns the dojo across the street from the Grill right? And why you because you want to make him jealous too. Kill two Originals with one stake"

"Kill two what with one what?"

Damon did a double take and cursed his mouth for running like that.

"My brother is addicted to vampire movies. So what do you say?"

Nikki frowned for a bit. She hated vampire movies, she was NOT into necrophilia but she had to admit he had a good point. Jealousy could work.

"On one condition"

"Name it"

"No more vampires and nothing happens unless we agree on it"

Damon bit his lip once again. Why were women such control freaks?

"Why no more vampires?"

he asked instead

"not into necrophilia"

Nikki said nonchalantly while finishing her meal. Damon broke into crazy giggles. Nikki rolled her baby blue eyes, shook her head and went on eating his portion of the pasta.

"What had she put herself into?"

The same evening the two strolled into Grill hand in hand. Damon had bitched enough for her to wear a dress that she would bet he was a fashion designer in a past life and so she had put on a midnight blue mid thigh dress instead of the dark wash jeans she wanted to wear.

In the bar Elena was gossiping with bonnie and Caroline about the slut she had seen leaving demon's house this morning masking her jealousy with gossip but fooling no one and at one of the pool tables was Jason with another instructor from the dojo telling him about the slob that picked Nikki at the school attempting to sound condescentic but failing miserably.

Damon smiled to himself picking on both conversations and led nikki to a booth making sure both interested parties could see them.

"What can I get you?"

Matt asked them.

"White wine for Nikki and the usual for me"

Damon replied not taking his eyes off of Nikki. She looked good, he decided. Nikki had seen both Jason and Elena too and had also seen their blond busboy stop by Elena's table before coming straight to them ignoring another couple waving for him. she smiled and stood up opting to sit in the same side of the booth as Damon and put her head on his shoulder.

Damon decided not to ask her what she was doing knowing that Barbie would hear them so he just put his arm around her and held her close. Nikki smiled at him and pointed with her blue eyes at Elena's dark brown/almost black due to the extreme anger and jealousy ones.

Matt arrived with their drinks, didn't say a word and returned to sit with his friends. Damon rolled his eyes and hugged Nikki closer deciding on impulse to kiss her. She closed her eyes feeling strangely content once again missing Jason's failed attempt to hit the small white ball but tearing the green fabric of the pool table.

Damon counted scores in his head thinking he rather liked the taste of Nikki's lips.


	3. Part 3

**Part 3**

A week went past with small gestures.

Damon would drive Nikki to and from school and on a few occasions he would even watch her as she taught the youth of mystic falls, because yes - kids do exist in Mystic Falls - the art of jumping around looking graceful.

They would spend their evenings at the grill where Damon taught her to play pool.

Every night she forced him into a frilly apron and taught him how to cook at his house.

Stefan met her and loved her.

Elena despised the ground where she stepped.

Jason sliced the tires of Damon's car.

Damon broke his nose and compelled him to think one of the little girls in Nikki's class did it.

Nikki agreed with Caroline that the cheerleaders needed her help in one of their shows. She now had daily meets with the girls much to Elena's displeasure.

Stefan proposed a movie night for all the couples one night. Damon held back the nasty remark 'You do realize we're not teenagers brother, right?' and nodded. The girls, Bonnie Elena Caroline and Stefan, chose the notebook and wept like babies. Nikki rolled her eyes the same way Damon Matt and Tyler did and chose to spend her evening making out with Damon.

It wasn't until the night fell and Damon woke up drenched in cold sweat that he realized it.

"I'm in love with her"

The face he had been dreaming off did not have long dark brown hair and blue eyes. She wasn't a doppelganger of a past love of his. It wasn't Elena.

A week passed with small moments. Nikki laid in her bed in her sleep shorts and bra thinking about Operation Jealousy.

She had cooked for Damon every night.

He had helped her with her gymnastics.

She had managed to get him to try other drinks other than scotch.

He tried to show her how to play pool.

She had kissed him.

He had 'assisted' Jason with one of his karate classes and had wiped the floor with her secret crush.

She kissed him again for that and let him sit her through all four 'Underworld' movies. He had decided they were informational. He had been so engrossed he didn't realize she had painted his toenails gold.

She hid behind Stefan when he tried to get back at her.

Stefan called them 'lovebirds'.

Jason called them 'annoying and useless'.

Elena called them something that would make her grandmother put soap in the teenager's mouth.

She had dosed off when she jumped awake.

"I'm in love with him"

She shouted when her brain showed her the slideshow of Damon kicking Jason's butt. She had cheered for Damon and had kissed his scrapped knuckles. She hadn't even spared Jason a second glance.

"Oh no"

Two people in the opposite ends of Mystic Falls said at the same time.


	4. Part 4

**Part 4**

One more week passed as the two 'lovebirds' didn't speak to each other.

Damon tried to drown his attraction with scotch and Elena who had zero issues with cheating on Stefan.

Nikki pushed her body harder and accepted Jason's invitations for movies and cookouts.

Damon kept fantasizing about Nikki when he was on top of Elena.

Nikki saw Damon in her minds eye when she played cards with Jason.

Stefan hit his brother upon walking in on him and Elena. Damon shrugged and walked away.

Jason slapped Nikki when during a make out session she called him Damon. He called her a whore. She used Damon's suggestion and kneed him in a very sensitive area.

Damon Salvatore was at Mystic Grill, drowning his sorrows in numerous bottles of top shelf scotch muttering to himself how once again he had found himself at the bar of the Grill. He missed Nikki and for the first (second if he was honest with himself) time Elena was a stand-in for the person he truly wanted.

For the first (second if she was honest with herself) time Elena didn't care. She had it all. Stefan officially, Damon for when she wanted it rough and Matt to cover the days the two vampires were busy.

On the stool next to him sat a blond woman. She was in her mid-twenties, with big baby blue eyes and could probably rival him in the number of empty bottles of tequila and gin. She had finally closed the door on Jason and would grab the vampire by the fangs (she was blond, not stupid) and tell Damon she missed him.

George the bartender shook his head and brought them another round.

Nikki raised her glass in Damon's direction

"Jealousy plans suck"

"They always backfire"

Damon agreed and they downed their respective drinks.

"He hit you"

Damon said slurring a bit ready to defend her honor.

Nikki giggled

"He won't have kids anytime soon"

Damon laughed out loud at the feisty gymnast. He was about to tell her he missed her. He opened his mouth

"I missed you"

The two said at the same time.

Damon smirked to himself.

Nikki smiled to herself.

"Let me buy you dinner"

Damon proposed

"Buy me breakfast instead"

She ordered him and kissed him. Damon complied. Who was he to deny a woman what she wanted? They left the Grill hand in hand.

George scoffed and extended his hand to matt, palm up.

"Pay up kid. Told you it would work"

"Damn"

Matt swore and paid the older man fifty bucks. Then he texted Stefan who danced a victory dance and threw Elena out. He was, like his brother, a man of habit though so he sent a text to Rebekah to meet for drinks the next week.

But that's a different story.

**The end**


End file.
